Event Detail

Alvin Roth (Stanford University)

Alvin Roth (Stanford University)

About Roth:

Alvin Roth is the Craig and Susan McCaw Professor of Economics at Stanford University which is where he earned his PhD from in 1974. He previously held positions at the University of Illinois and the University of Pittsburgh before moving to Harvard University where in 2012 he shared the 2012 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics with Lloyd Shapley "for the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market design."

Description of his Work:

How to bring different players together in the best possible way is a key economic problem. Lloyd Shapley studied different matching methods theoretically and, beginning in the 1980s, Alvin Roth used Lloyd Shapley's theoretical results to explain how markets function in practice. Through empirical studies and lab experiments, Alvin Roth demonstrated that stability was critical to successful matching methods. Roth has also developed systems for matching doctors with hospitals, school children with schools, and organ donors with patients. See more at NobelPrize.org